Teacher job action starts April 23

Teachers will start job action April 23 but say it will be aimed at administration and not have an impact in the classroom.

This is stage 1. The B.C. Teachersâ€™ Federation says teachers wonâ€™t be supervising students outside the classroom, such as during recess, and will not do administrative duties.

Teachers will prepare report cards and meet with parents.

â€œI will not speculate on how long stage one will last. It will depend entirely on what happens at the bargaining table,â€ said BCTF president Jim Iker.

(See the Langley School District letter to parents below)

The BCTF had sought a Labour Relations Board ruling on essential service levels.

The BCTF says there is no schedule for escalation to stage 2, but that it would depend on progress at the bargaining table.

The LRB would likely also determine the ground rules for stage 2, which is rotating strikes around the province, something the teachers have never done before.

Iker said last week that the teachers asked for the ruling because little progress had been made in negotiations between teachers and their employer.

The ruling may also address anything the government has brought to the LRB, which could include a request for teachers to pay the full cost of their benefits during any job action.

Peter Cameron, the B.C. Public School Employersâ€™ Associationâ€™s chief negotiator asked for this in a letter to Iker, and said in a news conference that the move, estimated to cost $5 million a month, was required to put pressure on the teachers to settle. Iker called the move â€œoutrageousâ€ because the teachers would still be teaching in stage 1.

The major issues are salaries, the duration of the agreement, and class size and composition. The employer is offering a 10-year contract with a seven per cent wage increase over the first six years and indexing for the following four years. The teachers are asking for 13.5 per cent over a three-year contract.